Newsroom, New Drama from Aaron Sorkin Options

[boogie_artist]

watched first couple of eps, really liking it

This post has been edited by boogie_artist: Aug 19 2012, 20:26

[Mister R]

Ok after seeing a pick-up with episode 6 and 7 I'm back to my previous position with Newsroom. Its clunky preachy speechifying that has occasional glimmers of something better.

There's a line of dialogue in episode 9 (in the middle of yet another big speech) where Mortimer's character says 'and we're starting to be not very pleasant people to be around' and it strikes you that the problem is that apart from when Will was high none of these characters are particularly pleasant to be around ever. Partly because every other line of dialogue tends to lead to someone making a big righteous speech and partly because they're all so paper thin. They're just props for Sorkin's rants. Its kind of like he was writing a blog about news coverage and someone has awkwardly shoehorned that into dialogue.

But despite all that there remains something oddly watchable about the whole thing. No idea what though.

Also can I just point that a staggeringly long period of time has passed over the course of this series. It started with the BP oil spill in April 2010 and now we're at Casey Anthony and Anthony Weiner which was June 2011. When you watch this show do you really believe that more than a year has passed for any of these characters? No one's lives appear to have moved on at all. No one seems to have undergone any changes in those 14 months.

[deegee178]

Also can I just point that a staggeringly long period of time has passed over the course of this series. It started with the BP oil spill in April 2010 and now we're at Casey Anthony and Anthony Weiner which was June 2011. When you watch this show do you really believe that more than a year has passed for any of these characters? No one's lives appear to have moved on at all. No one seems to have undergone any changes in those 14 months.

Good point - I'd not noticed that until you pointed it out but it's obvious now!

[MOOO]

I'm enjoying Newsroom greatly. Still not a patch on The West Wing. I think anything else Sorkin will do will just be a lesser version. But I am prefering it to Studio 60.

The timeline is moving very quickly but I don't care too much. I really liked the episode where they found out about that Democratic Senator that got shot, didn't realise that some news channels has pronounced her dead.

[tole]

I assumed that the time-line moving quickly was an attempt to bring the show up to the current date by season 2 or to do the presidential elections.

I think setting the series in reality was probably a mistake, considering it limits what they can do by a great amount. They could never have a debate because they'd have to get actors to play the real people which wouldn't work.

They really do need to stop dragging out the boring story lines too, no one cares about the love interests between these characters, which actually feel like they've been going on forever but with nothing actually happening.

[Mister R]

I assumed that the time-line moving quickly was an attempt to bring the show up to the current date by season 2 or to do the presidential elections.

Nope. Sorkin has said he wants to keep the show about 18 months to a year behind current events as a minimum (so the election will be the main thrust of season two). In some respects that makes sense – he doesn't have to make up fake news stories which would just be variations on actual news stories anyway plus he gets to riff on how everyone actually covered the story and rant about how they did it wrong. Its a difficult road to tread with the real stories though because Sorkin is writing them with hindsight that always creeps in. Plus it tends to undermine the work that actual journalists did because the Newsnight team are always a step ahead and breaking stories. Seriously its absurd how connected every staffer on that show is and half of the time that connection doesn't even make sense.

What continues to disappoint/annoy me about Newsroom though is how brilliant tiny elements of the show are because if Sorkin could just pull those threads together it would be such a good show but he becomes so obsessed with his righteous rants and the tedious romance plots that the stuff that works just gets completely derailed.

[paddyirl]

Personally I find the whole thing very "preachy". Having to listen to lectures about the media constantly becomes unbearable.

Emily Mortimer ranting week by week is not entertaining. If I want a sermon I'll go to mass.

[Mister R]

Just got around to watching the season finale. It made me angry for all the wrong reasons. The really horribly sad thing is that I'll still watch the second season and hate absolutely every second of it I imagine...

[boogie_artist]

It was a bizarre season finale, I do enjoy the show though and will be tuning in for season 2.

[tole]

I didn't even realise last weeks episode was the finale. What a let down. The hacking thing coming to an end was done really poorly it seemed, there was no epic moment when the guys confronted their bosses.

[Mister R]

It just failed on every level.

As a piece of drama it didn't work. It just lurched from one poorly executed and anti-climactic moment to the next. That bait and switch with the hackings in the big meeting was particularly poor. Also its remarkable how quickly journalistic integrity goes out of the window when the self-interest of these characters is involved. After a season of speechifying about journalism and reporting the news they get a huge news story about hacking and decide that rather than report it they're going to use it to blackmail their boss so they can keep their jobs and continue to take pot shots at the Tea Party (more on that in a moment).

The troll story bugs me. A lot. And helps to sum up one of the major flaws of this series. Its all written from hindsight. And not just hindsight but self righteous hindsight.

Also the romance subplots are hideous. In large part this is because all of this people are horrific and I don't actually want any of them to be happy and also because all these people are fucking stupid. Has anyone stopped to follow the path of the Maggie/Jim/Don love triangle that seems to now involve about half the cast? Its mind numbing. Also I think I'm supposed to like Maggie but why would I? She destroys the relationship of her best friend (a relationship she pushed them into in the first place) kisses Jim and then moves in with her boyfriend who she doesn't like. This woman is a complete bitch.

But then there's the political rhetoric. I don't know if you're aware of this but Will McAvoy is a Republican. I know he's a Republican because Aaron Sorkin hits me over the head with this fact at every chance he gets (short of having McAvoy do a big 'I'm a Republican' song and dance number every week) presumably so that he can take some kind of fictional cover behind whilst relentlessly attacking the right – 'but McAvoy's a Republican'. Can anyone remember any criticism of Democrats covered on the show other than the Weiner story, which we were repeatedly told wasn't really news and shouldn't have been treated as such so doesn't really count anyway? The whole thing is just so heavy handed and clunking.

[fenella]

The BBC ought to do a version. I'm seeing it set in the mid 70s with a man bringing news to a new, untapped audience.

My vision is called "John Craven's Newsroom". Should be a winner, I think.

[Mister R]

I also forgot that they annoyingly brought back the college girl from the pilot so they could redeem Will on that as well. That might have been the single most annoying part of the entire finale.

[sexyy1010]

I also forgot that they annoyingly brought back the college girl from the pilot so they could redeem Will on that as well. That might have been the single most annoying part of the entire finale.

That was cliche.


However generally I really quite liked it. I find it fluid and uncompromising. Its well acted and I personally really like the script. I don't generally dislike any of the charaters. It has maintained a pretty good, fast paced storyline(s)

I don't think it was fantastic television, but very watchable. Awaiting season 2.

[paddyirl]

It just failed on every level.

As a piece of drama it didn't work. It just lurched from one poorly executed and anti-climactic moment to the next. That bait and switch with the hackings in the big meeting was particularly poor. Also its remarkable how quickly journalistic integrity goes out of the window when the self-interest of these characters is involved. After a season of speechifying about journalism and reporting the news they get a huge news story about hacking and decide that rather than report it they're going to use it to blackmail their boss so they can keep their jobs and continue to take pot shots at the Tea Party (more on that in a moment).

The troll story bugs me. A lot. And helps to sum up one of the major flaws of this series. Its all written from hindsight. And not just hindsight but self righteous hindsight.

Also the romance subplots are hideous. In large part this is because all of this people are horrific and I don't actually want any of them to be happy and also because all these people are fucking stupid. Has anyone stopped to follow the path of the Maggie/Jim/Don love triangle that seems to now involve about half the cast? Its mind numbing. Also I think I'm supposed to like Maggie but why would I? She destroys the relationship of her best friend (a relationship she pushed them into in the first place) kisses Jim and then moves in with her boyfriend who she doesn't like. This woman is a complete bitch.

But then there's the political rhetoric. I don't know if you're aware of this but Will McAvoy is a Republican. I know he's a Republican because Aaron Sorkin hits me over the head with this fact at every chance he gets (short of having McAvoy do a big 'I'm a Republican' song and dance number every week) presumably so that he can take some kind of fictional cover behind whilst relentlessly attacking the right – 'but McAvoy's a Republican'. Can anyone remember any criticism of Democrats covered on the show other than the Weiner story, which we were repeatedly told wasn't really news and shouldn't have been treated as such so doesn't really count anyway? The whole thing is just so heavy handed and clunking.

Must say I agree with ALL these points.

1 - The relationships suck, Maggie isn't likeable just stupid and no way would Sloan want that guy, plus it is not at all believable that Sloan is some socially awkward chick who has issues with guys, not just cause she's hot but her whole demeanor. Plus the casting of her friend is terrible, that chick is too tall for most of the other cast members.

2 - Agree that Sorkin is blatantly a democrat not an independent, like what about the mountains of Democrats who have sold out over the years. The show clearly has an anti-republican bias.

3 - The whole show seems so unrealistic, its ok to challenge the establishment but calling the tea party the "American Taliban" is just as sensationalist as FOX calling Obama "Un-American".

4 - Bringing back the college chick was stupid too, maybe next season do something like that but here it just seemed slotted in to give the series some level of symmetry or some shit.

This post has been edited by paddyirl: Sep 11 2012, 23:49

[deegee178]

However generally I really quite liked it. I find it fluid and uncompromising. Its well acted and I personally really like the script. I don't generally dislike any of the charaters. It has maintained a pretty good, fast paced storyline(s)

I don't think it was fantastic television, but very watchable. Awaiting season 2.

I'm with you on this verdict. Enjoyed it and actually disappointed it was only 10 episodes.

[dixie]

I've got to say I did quite like it, sure it wasn't a patch on The West Wing, but it was never going to be and nothing Sorkin does will top that because it was great television.

As simple entertainment I thought it worked well enough that I'll watch Season 2. Some things could have been done better. What show can we say is perfect? And yes, some political bias was very evident, but I think as an outsider that didn't really matter.

I think one of the few real problems I had with the series is that it is set in the real world and has such a spread out time scale. I think it would have been better to do like the West Wing where they changed history a little, have fictional politicians and enemies for the most part, etc, but use real problems and storylines, but in a fictional context, so the oil spill, Bin Laden being caught, things like that could have been used but in the world they created, with characters and events sufficiently changed to match.

[boogie_artist]

Little update -

The Newsroom Season 1 will be released on DVD in June.

Season 2 will also premiere on HBO also in June.